National Council discusses energy supply of the future

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The Grand Chamber, as second council, advises the federal law on a safe power supply with renewable energy sources. These are amendments to the Energy Act and the Electricity Act. Last autumn, the Council of States hammered in the first pins.

In the Federal Republic of Bern, the topic of power supply security has long been a priority. The authorities take very seriously the increasing dependence on winter electricity imports and the possibility of grid bottlenecks, which will increase in the coming years. The current energy crisis related to the war in Ukraine has shown the need for measures to ensure grid stability.

There is also broad agreement in the House of Representatives that the new Energy and Electricity Act is essential to guarantee security of supply in the medium and long term. The focus of the considerations is the expansion of renewable energy sources. Just like the Council of States, the preparatory advisory committee of the National Council also wants to significantly increase the expansion objectives of the Federal Council.

Given the current developments, it is necessary to act faster and go further than originally proposed, was the tenor. At the same time, energy must also be saved. According to federal figures, two terawatt hours of electricity could be saved by replacing all electric heating systems.

There must be high subsidies for new power plants. In addition, electricity production in the future must be regarded as a national interest – and thus outweigh, for example, environmental protection or landscape protection. However, a weighing of interests must remain possible, as stated by the National Council Committee. Compensatory measures for landscape protection should also be planned.

The National Council Commission is also asking for larger existing buildings to be fitted with solar panels in the medium term. Residential buildings are an exception to this. As a contribution to energy efficiency, holiday homes must be equipped with intelligent heating controls by 2035. The Council of States rejected this in its first deliberation on the bill.

The Commission of the National Council for Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (Urek-N) confidently described its decisions as “milestones for the further development of Swiss energy policy”. In the general vote, she accepted the decree by 17 votes to 7 with one abstention. Fundamental opposition comes from the SVP, which describes the energy strategy as a failure. But environmentalists are still skeptical of the proposal. It already seems certain that one day voters will have the final say on the bill.

(SDA)

Source:Blick